FlyNYON Review Helicopter Flight over Manhattan

FlyNyon Review – “the ultimate aerial photo experience.”

I first discovered FlyNYON on Instagram on Boxing Day 2015, whilst recovering from a food-filled Christmas Day. Immediately I started looking at videos on YouTube, pictures on the other social media platforms and decided that I was going to book this trip for my 30th birthday trip planned for June 2016. Later that day they tweeted a code for 30% off, being the impulsive guy I am, I immediately booked it for Saturday 25th of June 2016. I hope you enjoy my FlyNyon Review.

Fast forward 6 months and I arrived at the FlyNYON site in Kearny NJ, and was led into the hanger by the team to a waiting area while we waited for the rest of the group. Having signed my waiver form electronically the day before, all that was needed was to produce my UK driving licence, for the company to confirm my identity.

I decided to wear a brand new pair of Converses for the trip….. can’t have dirty trainers for my shoe-selfie!

Once all the paperwork was sorted out we went through all the safety procedures, and the FlyNYON team were on hand to advise us on the best possible camera equipment and settings to use. I opted to use my Canon 760d with an 18-135mm lens, with a Go-Pro mounted on top and also my Samsung S6 Edge with a special grip. The team did offer a shoulder mount for my Go-Pro, but I was adamant to use it mounted on top my DSLR.

We also discussed the route, between the four of us flying during that slot we were all aligned on what we wanted to see making it easy for our pilot, given that we had booked onto the 30 minute NYC classic tour, we had the opportunity to fly over the main sites over Manhattan and spend some extra time over by the Empire State Building and the Freedom Tower. We also had the opportunity to choose which seat we wanted on board the helicopter, I opted for the ‘adventure’ seat. This is the middle seat, at the back of the helicopter. After lift-off, having this seat enabled me to sit down on the floor of the helicopter with my legs hanging out (optional of course).

We then started to put on our harness (safety is paramount to the team here). All of our camera equipment/phones were then attached to the harness so that if we do drop them, they won’t go very far. We were then taken on a little golf buggy out to our helicopter and given the opportunity for a look around the helicopter before sitting in our allocated seats. All passenger’s harnesses were then attached to the seats, to prevent any accidents from occurring.

Lift-off was quite quick, and boy it was loud when compared to my previous helicopter ride a few years earlier – having no doors really does make a difference. Once airborne and away from land our pilot then signaled for me, to be able to unbuckle my belt (harness still attached to the seat of course) and sit on the edge of the helicopter. I’ll admit, early on I was a little apprehensive about sitting right on the edge, this was due to it being really windy especially when out on the open water near Governors Island and Statue of Liberty, but when we were over Manhattan I was sitting on the edge of the helicopter with my legs dangling out taking pictures/videos and enjoying the view.

Check out some of my pictures, and an edited video of my flight below:

Editing Credit: Paulina Erni

The Helicopter for the FlightShoe Selfie Over Manhattan and Brooklyn BridgesCentral ParkMid-TownView from the helicopterStatue of Liberty

I don’t think I can express how much I enjoyed this trip in words, the flight over Manhattan was amazing, I would highly recommend this trip to anyone. The team on the ground at FlyNYON are fantastic and really do help along the way; One of the other members of the group was apprehensive about flying with the doors open and the team calmed her down by taking her to the helicopter, talking her through all the safety equipment and allaying any fears that she had. They were brilliant with advising me of which lens to use, and double checked that I had the optimum camera settings for the flight and conditions – in true Raj fashion, I had a list of notes and had prepped my camera on my journey to the site, but still appreciated them making sure. If you have the opportunity to do this flight in any of their locations, please do so, and check out the FlyNYON and Misshattan Twitter/Instagram feeds (links below) – they’ll certainly convince you if my pictures haven’t. FLYNYON REVIEW, FLYNYON REVIEW, FLYNYON REVIEW

I hope you’ve enjoyed my FlyNYON review, they fly in New York, Miami, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

I’d highly recommend keeping a close eye on their Twitter/Instagram feeds and sign up to their newsletter, they regularly send out coupons for money off. I was able to book my NYC classic at $350 down from $499. I’d love to see them in London so that I can fly and review FlyNYON again.